There is no I in TEAM, but there is ME
by Washuu Puppet
Summary: (POV: Jessie) I know I'm here for a reason, but yet I can't find it. I want to be part of this change but how can I get him to trust me and for us to be friends? Will James ever accept me as his team-mate?
1. Prologue Graduation

            I wait outside the grand room. Everybody but me, getting their graduation diploma for becoming an official Pokemon Nurse. I watch as all the Chanseys go up the steps to the main podium, get their nurse hats and receive an egg shaped necklace. Each of them holding a bright candle that drips tiny droplets of wax every once in a while. They  sing to themselves. A song of congratulations and commemoration towards all of their hard work. I get nothing, except for the teachers backs once they've told me to leave. And leave I shall, for I have no more business being here.

            I exit the Pokemon Nursing School and head down the street towards the local train station. They usually have some posters up that are asking for job applicants. Maybe I can become a maid, or a caretaker, or maybe even a babysitter. Something must be right for little, ol', me. Something. 

            "Chansey!" I hear a cry from behind me.

            I turn to see my best friend. Chansey runs towards me, that little egg necklace bouncing around her plump, pink neck. "Hello there, little one."

            "Chan. Chansey!" Chansey says. She takes off her hat and tries to give it to me.

            "No, I can not take that. You are the nurse, not me. I don't deserve it." I say as I push the hat back towards her.

            Chansey sighs desperately and full of sadness. She then gets an idea, you could see it in her face. "Chansey!" She then takes hold of her necklace with her thick fingers and somehow manages to break it in half. She offers me a piece.

            I take it gratefully. "Thank you very much. I will cherish this forever. Now you have a piece of me, and I have a piece of you. Always."

            "Chansey!" Chansey smiles.

            "Now, I must go." I turn to leave again. She cries more in protest but I will not listen to her. For if I do, I will never be able to leave and start my new life. I must leave…I must. "Sorry." I mumble to myself as I finally turn the corner. 


	2. Part 1 Capture and Commitment

            It takes a while to get to the train station. I walk inside after fighting through a thick crowd of happy families, meeting a loved one that has just arrived on the night train G14. I set my briefcase down at my feet as I gaze up at the bulletin board where all the posters are pinned up. 

            Hmmm, I think to myself. Which one should I choose? There aren't that many. I thought there would be more. I hoped. I see one for babysitting, but for four little boys. That would be too much, even for me. I'm only 15 for goodness sake. I give up, nothing of these bulletins will help me out. 

            I go and have a seat on one of the waiting benches by the ticket booth. I put my briefcase on my lap and sigh deeply. Why is my life going so wrong! I'm a good, nice, and talented person. But nobody seems to be noticing this. I feel so left out, so unwanted. I bet you would too if you were in my situation.  

I've lost so many things so far. I've lost my father, so my mother had to take care of me by herself. I've lost love many times. More then I really should have, if you ask me. I've lost jobs that I've worked hard for. Nursing being my most current. I've always wanted to be a Pokemon Nurse, though. And all those stupid teachers had to treat me with such neglect just because I wasn't a Chansey. I hate them…I hate them! 

"You really think she'll do?" I hear a raspy man's voice from behind me.

"She does have great potential, you can see it." Another says.

"How can you tell?" The first one counters.

"Just trust me on this one, Dirk." The second one cackles. "Plus, we have an odd number of new employees. We need as many ask possible that are willing. Otherwise, if we don't come back with a few more recruits, the boss will have our hides!"

"There's a good point." The first one sighs.

I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turn around to see the two men. "What do you want?" I demand of them.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The second man's voice croaked. "We didn't mean to startle you at all, miss. We just have an opportunity we thought we'd offer." 

"What do you want?" I ask again.

"Would you consider being a part of our Team?" The first one said.

"Team?" I question.

"We can't tell you too much." The second one says. "Would you be willing to join up with us?"

"Depends." I hesitate.

"Oh come on, Brad! She's not giving in!" The first man yells.

"Shut up, Dirk!" The second one bellows. "Come with us, missy, and maybe you will change you mind."

"No! I'm not going to go with you." I hug my briefcase as if it would act as a protective shield.

"Come on, girly! You're coming with us. You have no choice." The second man tries to grab my briefcase. The first man comes up to me from behind and picks me up by the waist.

"Let go of me!" I yell at them.

They don't listen and either  of the people in the train station don't  seem to either notice or care that I have been taken by these men. "Let's get her back to headquarters." The first man chuckles.

And that was that, I guess. The men dragged me out of the train station and into a jet black car that was sitting outside. The second man took the wheel and the first man was still holding onto me in the back seat. Where the heck where they taking me? A little, innocent girl! And what were they talking about? Some 'team' that I couldn't be told about in the first place. What was so great about it? I was about to find out, for after the black car turned down a deserted dirt road, we  arrived at a tall, grayish-blue building. They trusted me out of the back door and walked up to the gate. A little surveillance camera twisted and turned to it was looking right at the two men and myself. The second man, Brad, pushed a red button next to the gate.

"Password?" Came a woman's voice from the other end of the intercom.

"Slowpoke Tail." Brad replies and the gates open.

They take me inside and up many flights of stairs. Turning right first, then left, another left, and right again. Over and over until we reached two big oak doors that had in golden writing, Private. The second man knocked on the door and a deep voice from inside told him that he may enter. The doors open and we walk into an oval office with a desk right in front. I see a Persian crawled up in front of a fire to my right and a man sitting in a high chair in back of the desk. The flames from the fire were flickering off of his face. Making him look very creepy.

"We have you a new member, sir!" Dirk said proudly.

"Oh, really?" The man behind the desk asked.

"Yes, sir, Boss, sir." Brad bowed. "We got her down at the train station."

The Boss turned to me. "What is your name."

"Jessie." I squeak out.

"Jessica, huh?" The Boss rubs his chin.

"Jessie, please." I butt in with my correction.

The Boss just grunts at me. "Well, we must give you a small test, and few simple rules. And then you will be a fulltime member of Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?" I say confused.

"Yes. Now, be gone with you. You will be suited up with a partner tomorrow morning and be given your mission." The Boss said.

The two men holding onto one of my arms each carry me out of the room. I am then put in a room that looked like a laboratory. I walk backwards clumsily and run into a table. I turn around to see some papers on them as well as a pen.

"Sit." A girl's voice said from the shadows.

I sit and take the pen off the desk automatically. 

"Fill out those forms and you will be ready to go." The girl tells me.

So I do. All they did was ask me what my name was, some of my past jobs and experiences. If I was a Pokemon Trainer or not, my address, and resent family members incase anything bad happened to me. But by the looks of this place, they didn't really give a crap what happened to you. As long as you did something good before you croaked. I play with my pigtail braids and bite the top of the pen at some of the personal questions. Finally, I finish them all and the girl comes to file them. When she comes back she takes a good look at me.

"Pathetic." She merely says. I feel my cheeks burn pink. "We must do something with that hair of yours, girl."

"Really? I like it…" I finger it gingerly.

"Shut up! I didn't ask your opinion on it." The girl spits. 

She takes the rubber bands that hold my pigtails in and snaps them. She then unbraids my hair, brushes it and then smacks a whole bottle of gel in it. She molds and mixes and does all this stuff without asking anything of me. Like most people I have come to meet, she doesn't care. She puts up a mirror so I can see my new hair do. She hands me a bottle of mascara and some red lipstick.

"Pretty up." She demands. "You gotta look good for this job. Learn that, you will always look good doing your job. No matter what. Beauty comes first, before duty."

"Okay." I nod and put a layer of the red paint on my lips. I brush on the mascara and wipe off the extra. I looked so different. 

"You will need a uniform, won't you?" The girl ponders. "Stay right there." She leaves and goes behind one of the many filing cabinets and clothes racks. She comes out with an outfit covered in a black trash bag. She throws it at me. "Here, this is your new uniform. You will always wear it. No buts."

"Okay." I nod again. 

"No complaints either." The girl says.

"Yes." I reply.

The girl finally breaks a smile upon me. "Welcome to Team Rocket, Jessie. May you serve us well." 

"Thanks." I say feebly. 

"We're your family now. Your partner will be like a brother." She rests a hand on the shoulder of my dusty school uniform. "No turning back now. You've made this commitment, right?"

"I guess." 

"Good girl." She gives me a pat on the back. "Now go to the dormitories and sleep well. Tomorrow you set out. A big day."

"Okay. Thanks. Good-bye." I leave the room and follow the signs to the girls dormitories. 

When I get there, I take an isolated bed in the corner and take out my new Team Rocket uniform. It looked kinda slutty to me, but I guess I'll have to get used to it if I have to wear this all the time. A white belly-shirt with a big red R on it. A built in, black under-bra with it. A white mini-skirt and very, very high black, leather boots. Black leather gloves that reached up past my elbows. That was the new me. I set it out in a chair next to my bed and crawl under the covers to sleep. I didn't care if I was going to bed without supper. I don't even know if they serve you food here. I'll go to bed hungry, that's all. I've done it before. No biggy. Well, Good night Jessie of Team Rocket. May you serve well. Tomorrow you get your Partner as well as your Mission. Your Partner will be like your brother from now on. I wonder what he will be like…

I drift off into soundless slumber. 


	3. Part 2 Puzzle Pieces

            "Get up! Get up all 'a ya's!" A lady screams down the dormitories. I hear other girls moan and groan as the shades are pulled back. Emitting clouds of tiny dust particles and rays of sunshine.

            "What time is it?" I ask myself. I lift my wrist to check my watch.

            "Get up you Bum!" The lady bellows in my ear and flips my mattress over.

            I land on the floor hard on my stomach. I guess it doesn't matter what time it is. The moderator who had woken me up tells all the girls to get dressed into our Team Rocket uniforms. We were then to file downstairs where we would be suited to a partner after certain tests. I can't really say that I'm nervous, or excited. I just know that I've had bad luck with men for as long as I can remember. 

            How the heck are they going to choose these partners anyway? Don't we at least get our pick or say? I don't want to be stuck with this nasty or rude or impolite, or unsanitary or stupid…crude guy for the rest of my 'career'. This whole organization was stupid anyways. Just look at their motto! 'All Pokemon will be used for the benefit of Team Rocket', or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying.

            I am then seated in a small cubical and given a piece of paper with multiple choice and opinion questions on it. About fifteen in all. This wasn't going to be that hard, I think to myself. But no matter what, I am going to have to shape up and act tough. I'm not going to cry like a baby, I'm going to use intelligent idiom and do my actions smoothly. I don't want my partner, whoever he ends up to be, to think I'm some sort of lost, little, rich, prissy girl that lived down the street. I'm going to be a tough woman.

            The pieces of paper were collected by an overseer and quickly scanned over. They then escorted all of us girls down yet another hallway and into a small waiting room. I take a seat and start to read one of the Pokemon People Magazines that were on the table in the middle of the room. I just cross my legs and bob my foot up and down as I read, waiting for something to happen. 

            One by one, girl's names were called from the intercom overhead. This one particular girl gave me quite a snide look as she exited. I recall her name being Cassidy. She was a pretty girl, but had a very evil glint in her eye. 

            After a while. "Jessie."

            I stand up and put my magazine back down on the table and exit the room. I walk down to room 16C, which I was directed to, and knock on the door. A faint and odd laugh came from inside. It sounded like he was being tortured in a way. Someone else told me to come in, so I do.

            I open the door to see the back of one head, and the face of another. This room was deluxe! And…the man facing me must be the boss. He sat at a large desk with a fancy phone and a cozy chair. A Persian sat at his feet, purring softly to his scratch. He motions me to sit down next to the boy whose back was facing me. I didn't look at him, but kept looking straight ahead. All I know is that he had…purplish-blue hair. 

            "You must be Jessie." The boss said.

            "Yes, sir." I nod.

            "Well…welcome to Team Rocket." 

            "Thank you, sir."

            The boss clears his throat and continues. "Well, we are very eager to set you out on a mission. I bet you're anxious as well." He gives a small chuckle. "We just don't send people out alone, I bet you've noticed. We partner people up; a guy and a girl most likely. But in you two's case, a third will be added on. I don't really know if this one will be counted as a person, but he definitely is a comrade. Now, Jessie, do you have a Pokemon already?"

            "Yes, sir."

            "What kind?"

            "I have an Ekans, sir." I reply.

            The boss smiles. "That's great. The only thing left is to introduce you to your new partner. Jessie, this is James."

            I finally turn my head to look at the teen next to me. He turns his head to look at me, also. He had a loose hair flying across the middle of his face and he had very sensitive-looking green eyes. He looked like a nice guy. A kid almost, I would say. One side of his mouth twitched and he smiled for a portion of a second. I do the same. 

            James and I are dismissed and are sent down another hall to go pick up that third person to our little team. I felt, actually, kind of anxious. I had so many questions buzzing around my head that I wanted to ask my new partner. 

            "James?"

            "Yes, what do you want?" His voice sounded like a kid's too. Serious, yet fun-going. I liked it.

            "May I ask you something?" I say.

            "You just did, but you can ask another question if that was what you were aiming for in the first place." James replies coolly.

            "Ah, yes." I blush in embarrassment. "Well, how are you?"

            "Good."

            "I guess this is it, huh? We're going to spend a lot of time together. I hope we get along. From what I take it, those tests were like personality quizzes. That might mean we're a lot alike." I ramble.

            "Look, Jessie." James stops walking. He looked so stern.

            "I'm sorry." I say automatically.

            "Look, Jessie." He repeats. "Yes, it's true that we are going to spend a lot of time together, and frankly, I don't care. But there is something you have to learn before we go through with this. This whole mess is like one big puzzle. We're all little tiny pieces. And somehow, I'm sad to say, you don't fit!"

            I am shattered. "James…I'm sorry, I, uh."

            "Let's just go!" James starts to walk off to the next room.

            I follow with a frown. Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy or as fun as I thought. I just wanted to get along with this guy. I wanted him to like me. Oh well, I guess I can always commit suicide or something on one of our missions. No, that's not an answer. I'll just have to work it out with James, that's all. Maybe he was right though. Maybe I am like a puzzle piece…I don't seem to fit anywhere. 


	4. Part 3 James' Dream

            I hate the world. Why does everybody and everything have to be so cruel to me? I'm only a young girl for goodness sake. I can be sensitive. I want to be tough, I want to be forceful. I want for James to look at me and say that I am a good partner.

 I lay awake in my sleeping bag, James at least 10 feet away from me. In between us is a smaller sleeping bag, in it, sleeping, is a Meowth. He is our third member. He's a very odd little critter if you ask me. For one, he can talk the human language. I don't know how he learned it, or why he did, but he can.  

It's our first night out on our so-called journey. James hasn't spoken very much to me. He's very unlike Meowth. It's a wonder he can talk, but getting him to shut up is the trick. Always seems to complain. James is sound asleep. Why can't I sleep? Maybe I worry too much. 

What he said to me earlier today, right when we were sent out into this cold world, still bounced off the walls of my brain. 'You know, Jessie,' he had said. 'The world is like one big puzzle, and we're the pieces. And somehow, I'm sad to say, you don't fit'. I know that wasn't exactly what he said, but it was the thought of what he actually meant by that that saddened me. 

A loud groan comes from over to my right. I sit up in my sleeping bag and look over at James, so far away. He rolls around recklessly, his eyes closed tightly, hands gripping the edges of his blanket. In the moonlight you could see the shine of sweat on his face. He must be having a nightmare or something. I get out of my sleeping bag and crawl over to him. I tap him on the shoulder a few times, but nothing seems to work. 

"James!" I whisper. "James, wake up."

He doesn't respond. He just mumbles a few words. I couldn't understand.

"James!" I say louder. "What's wrong."

"You tink he's gonna answer ya?" Meowth said from beside me. He had woken up as well. 

My voice gets husky. "It was worth a try."

"I've seen people like Jimmy here before." Meowth informs. "Dey don't wake up no matter what ya do to 'em.  Sometin' about the dream won't let them pull up."

"I'm just a little worried, that's all." I said.

"Eh, you don't need to worry about him." Replied Meowth. "I'm sure he'd've forgotten about the whole thing, come morning."

            Meowth yawns and goes back to his tiny sleeping bag. I look at James, tossing and turning his head back and forth, still worrying. I go to my backpack and take out a towel, dabbing off the sweat he had on his forehead. I then, slowly, make my way back to my sleeping bag. I wiggle my legs in and sit there, staring into the trees before me. Suddenly, James bolts up, the towel on his forehead sores and lands in the dirt in front of him. He breathes heavily, I stare at him now. He soon realizes that I have been looking at him.

            "What is it?" James sighs.

            "I was worried about you. You seemed to be having a nightmare." I reply.

            James swallows hard. "I'm fine."

            "Are you sure?"

            "YES! I'm sure." James backs his voice down after the 'yes'. 

            "What…" I hesitate. "What was your dream about?"  
            James actually almost smiles at me. "You'd laugh if I told you."

            "No, I won't, I promise." I assure.

            James' happy face quickly fades into that blank annoyed look I'm so sadly used to. "I don't feel like it." He lies back down with his back to me. I finally fall back to sleep after I lay down as well. 

            The next morning at our short breakfast, I find James drawing in the dirt with a stick. I try to crank my neck so I could see clearly what it was. But before I could be a good peek, he saw my wandering eyes and scribbled it out.

            "What was it?" I ask.

            "None of your business." James pouts.

            "It was just a question, James, for goodness sake. No need to through a temper over it." I reply.

            James sighs upwards, fluffing his one long-strand bang. "I was just trying to recall what I saw in that dream last night."  
            "Oh!" I say in excitement. "Please, tell me more."

            James hesitates for a long time, and then finally whispers. "I was trying to remember her face."

            "A her, is it?" I jab my elbow at him.

            "Are ya sure it wasn't your Motha." Meowth jokes.

            James' face goes flaring. "No it was not!"  
            "Cool down, Jimmy." Meowth laughs.

            James lunges at Meowth's throat and gets his hands firmly around it. "How dare you try to joke around with something like this!" 

            While James was strangling Meowth, I go over to the spot where James was drawing with that stick. I could barely make out what I was. What I could see, confused me, but still left me curious. I saw a pair of wings and these huge eyes. The rest was too smudged to make out. James was at my throat next.

            "Don't look at that!" He throws me aside and stomps the rest out with his foot. "Let's get moving." He picks up our backpack and starts to walk off. I have no choice but to follow. 


End file.
